PROVIDENCE — Rhode Island does a good job of getting a large percentage of high school students into college. But it fails miserably at keeping those same students in college.

PROVIDENCE — Rhode Island does a good job of getting a large percentage of high school students into college. But it fails miserably at keeping those same students in college.

By the beginning of the third semester, only 47 percent — or 4,280 — Rhode Island students who enrolled in one of Rhode Island’s public institutions are still in college, according to a joint study by the state Office of Higher Education and the Department of Education.

“That is a dramatic gushing in the pipeline,” said Deborah Grossman-Garber, associate commissioner for academic planning with the Office of Higher Education. “That’s an enormous loss of human capital. This is not just a K-12 problem. It’s not just a post-secondary problem. It’s a community problem.”

Rhode Island has a troubling problem with persistence, the ability to stay in college until graduation. And it’s not only a challenge for minority and low-income students. The study, the first of its kind in Rhode Island, found that college retention is an issue that cuts across class and racial boundaries.

The study tracked the futures of 12,770 in the eighth-grade class of 2005-2006. The good news is that of those eighth-graders who made it to eleventh grade, 90 percent graduate within five or six years.

Half of those graduates enroll in one of the state’s three public colleges while 22 percent attend a private institution or an out-of-state college. But college enrollment in the state’s public institutions begins to drop off with each additional semester.

One element that the study hasn’t yet addressed is the large numbers of students who transfer from one college to another. Nationally, a typical student transfers at least once during his college career and almost a third of them transfer twice.

The discussion of the high school to college pipeline occurred during the second day of the state Board of Education’s retreat, which looked at such topics as high school graduation requirements, the Common Core academic standards and teacher evaluations.

Board member Colleen Callahan asked the panelists what factors contribute to college success.

Surprisingly, test scores and grade-point averages are a relatively small factor in predicting who will complete college. The types of courses a student takes and the trajectory of those courses play a greater role in college retention, according to Matt Gianneschi, vice-president of policy for the Education Commission of the States, a national clearinghouse.

“Curriculum really matters,” he told the board.

Grossman said that 120,000 Rhode Island adults between the ages of 24 and 65 have accumulated some college credits and some are within a semester of graduating. The reasons for leaving college are many: a lack of money, too much debt and family commitments.

“When 78 percent of our students arriving at CCRI need to take at least one remedial course,” Grossman said, “it’s very unlikely that they will make it through college.”

Higher education has to figure out a way to bring back these former students. One of the challenges is mobility. Rhode Island students frequently move from one college to another but not all of the credits can be transferred.

Colleges, like high schools, also have to rethink the notion of time. Why not offer more for-credit courses online?

“These are our students,” Grossman said. “They ride our buses. They shop in our malls. We need to reach out to them.”

Then there is the issue of vocational training. The educational system has to offer more meaningful education to students who choose to enter the workforce and the training must lead to an industry-recognized certificate.

The state also needs to do a much better job of helping students, especially first generation college-goers, navigate the system. Too often, students don’t take enough credits each semester and they run out of financial aid before they are able to graduate.

Another possible solution is increasing the opportunity to earn college credits while a student is in high school, Gianneschi said. In Colorado, 30,000 high school students are enrolled in college classes.